If we’ve seen it once, we’ve seen it a million times. Dumb criminals, suspects, fugitives, or even those looking to commit a crime get themselves nabbed by bragging or otherwise sharing on social media. This story starts out that way, but takes an unexpected hard left turn, and in this case, it’s the police who are the ones left with egg on their face.
This saga began innocently enough, when one prospective marijuana user in Sarasota, Florida, took to Twitter to try to score a hook up.
WHOS IN SARASOTA FLORIDA AND HAS WEED #Sarasota
— Fly Shit Only (@preznixon16) May 8, 2016
Somehow “Fly Shit Only’s” tweet caught the attention of the Sarasota PD (whooooops) who tweeted back the following:
If you'd like to stop by our HQs, our Narcotics Detectives would be more than happy to talk. #SayNoToDrugs #LESM https://t.co/sQc8P2LHUL
— Sarasota Police Department (@SarasotaPD) May 10, 2016
And that would have been where things ended, except that an amazing thing happened. First another person chimed in to remind police how frigging dumb anti-drug laws (specifically marijuana) are in the first place.
@sarasotapd @preznixon16 nice to know there are people out there protecting us from leaves! 😄 | #googleVoluntaryism pic.twitter.com/JdHxqOqIb7
— John Pratt (@realJohnPratt) May 11, 2016
From there, the tweet went viral and others jumped into the fray. And then things got out of hand, pretty fast.
@sarasotapd and it is legal in half the states, so a better response is to "serve the community" and remind it is still illegal. not intrap
— kevin (@kevinkaos941) May 10, 2016
@sarasotapd but thank you for all your officers work. Still love you. Just think spd could have had a better responce.
— kevin (@kevinkaos941) May 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/RTShark/status/730059432751714304
https://twitter.com/FactsbySpencer/status/730077198078586881
@preznixon16 What a waste of resources. Get off Twitter and go do something productive!
— Joe (@ManBearPig486) May 12, 2016
https://twitter.com/KevinGabbert/status/730571052271603713
https://twitter.com/ATLbpckr/status/730534020069654528
https://twitter.com/benvjohn/status/730241562001604608
https://twitter.com/vsletten/status/730544245342228480
@preznixon16 pic.twitter.com/kH5tMMkypm
— clark (@070Clark) May 11, 2016
Yes, for what it’s worth, marijuana is still very much illegal in Florida, and the Sarasota police are technically just doing their jobs. (Or whoever handles their social media, specifically.) But with any luck, that will change across the country within a few years, and in the meantime all we can do is laugh at drug-enforcement agencies grasping at the last straws.
(Via BroBible)